O.Carm
March Schedule of the Prior General
Fr. Míċeál O'Neill, the prior general, has the following schedule planned for the month of March 2024:
March 1-2: End of Canonical Visitation of the Province of Aragon, Castille, and Valencia
March 4-16: Rome: Plenary Session of General Council
March 17-31: Canonical Visitation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Part 1) This visit will include the celebrations of the closure of the Jubilee year of Carmelite presence in the DRC.
800-Year-Old Irish Carmelite Friary Vandalized
800-year-old Irish Carmelite Friary in Castlelyons Vandalized
The gardai (police) in north County Cork are appealing for help in tracking down 'taggers' who targeted the 800-year-old Carmelite foundation in Castlelyon. Although now in ruins, the monastery—a listed National Monument—has been a place of religious devotion for almost 800 years.
Several parts of the standing walls of the Friary and graveyard were tagged with black spray paint. Shocked locals reported the incident to Gardai, who have been asking for help in tracking the taggers down.
Damaging or defacing national monuments in Ireland is a specific criminal offence and carries large penalties. Fines can cost offenders up to €50,000 or 12 months in prison.
Before the incident at the Carmelite friary, another Cork graveyard was targeted by vandals who removed mementos and items families had placed on graves, including toys from the graves of children.
The Castlelyon Carmelite friary was founded around 1307 and most of the existing buildings can be dated to the 15th Century. The first provincial chapter after the restoration of the Irish Province (1741) lists Castlelyon as one of the fourteen houses making up the province. However, the Castlelyon foundation is not listed in documents of the 1819 provincial chapter.
Lectio Divina March 2024
Opening Prayer
God, we do not want to die; we want to live.
We want to be happy but without paying the price. We belong to our times, when sacrifice and suffering are out of fashion. God, make our life worth living.
Give us back the age-old realization, that life means to be born again and again in pain, that it may become again a journey of hope to You, together with Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Celebrating At Home - 3rd Sunday in Lent
Cleansing our hearts
(John 2:13-25)
The Gospels of the last two Sundays showed us that the Christian journey is from Temptation to Transfiguration. The Gospels of the next three Sundays of Lent present Jesus as the road (or The Way, as the early Christians referred to him) from temptation to transfiguration.
In the Old Testament scriptures the idea of the people of Israel being ‘the people of God’ is clearly established. By their behaviour they were to be a ‘light to the nations’, and the dwelling-place of God’s presence. Only much later did the idea of God dwelling in a building called a temple develop. Even so, the Jews never lost the sense that they were to be God’s own people.
The reading from Exodus commonly known as the Ten Commandments gives a pattern for God’s people to live in right relationship with God and neighbour; to be the dwelling-place of God’s presence.
In today’s Gospel we find a deeply passionate Jesus causing a near-riot in the outer precincts of the Temple. In John’s Gospel Jesus’ prophetic actions have less to do with ‘cleansing the Temple’ than with saying that the Temple is no longer the way to be in right relationship with God.
According to John, Jesus is the new, living temple of God’s presence and the meeting place between God and his people. Jesus is the way to be in right relationship with God and neighbour.
In our Catholic tradition we often refer to ourselves as ‘temples of the Holy Spirit’. We recognise that
we are sacred beings destined for union with God, people in whom the reign of God’s goodness
should be clearly seen in word, thought and action.
Lent is a time to decide what our life is about and what is important. Like Jesus in the Temple maybe we need to put an end to ways of thinking and behaving which clutter our lives, obscure God’s presence and fail to bring life to others.
As members of the Body of Christ we, too, are to be the place where God is found on earth.
Recent Publications from Edizioni Carmelitane
If you have not visited our webstore lately, you should check it out. We have a new look. The site can be accessed in Italian, English, and Spanish. The "search" engine as well as arranging books by collection gives quick access to all the publications. Payment can be made by credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Some books are also now available as ebooks.
St. Titus BrandsmaTitus Brandsma Mysticism -- Fundamentals and Characteristic Features, volume 4 of the Collected Works
For more information on this book ...
Bernard HooseLet Yourself Be Loved
For more information on this book ...
Antonio VitaleUn Frate PericolosoLa vicenda umana di Tito Brandsma, martire carmelitano
For more information on this play ...
Simona DuranteL'attività di padre Serafino Maria Potenza (1697-1763)
Celebrating At Home - 2nd Sunday in Lent
From temptation to transfiguration 2
(Mark 9:2-10)
This Sunday’s Gospel of the Transfiguration completes the ‘little parable’ formed by the Gospels of the first two Sundays of Lent.
These Gospels tell us what Lent is about and what Christian life is about: a constant journey from temptation and doubt to transfiguration and faith.
Transfiguration means to be ‘shot-through’ with the presence of God. Being transfigured is about allowing the presence of God to completely transform us. It is a revolution of mind and heart driven by God’s Spirit and enabled by our open heartedness. Our life as Christians is about being transfigured by the Spirit of God so that God is seen in, and experienced through, us. That is what Peter, James and John saw in the transfigured Jesus.
The journey to transfiguration requires faith and perseverance. The story of Abraham in the first reading is a story of great faith and trust. Abraham faced the loss of his dearly loved son, the source of all his hope for the future. He trusted and his son was spared. That was a clear sign to Abraham that God is about bringing life, not death, to his people.
It takes faith and perseverance to dare to allow ourselves to be driven by the passion, hope and vision of God rather than our own desires and wants.
Listening to the living word of the ‘Beloved Son’ forms in us the heart of God.
- pdf Celebrating At Home - 2nd Sunday in Lent [PDF](3.00 MB)
- default Celebrating At Home - 2nd Sunday in Lent [ePub](4.73 MB)
- pdf Celebrando en Familia - Segundo Domingo de Cuaresma(732 KB)
- pdf Celebrando in Casa - II Domenica di Quaresima(723 KB)
- pdf Celebrando em familia - Segundo Domingo da Quaresma(724 KB)
The Carmelites of Malta Plan their Future
Carmelites Decide to Remain in Valletta, Fgura, and Santa Venera
During the 2024 Provincial Chapter of the Maltese Province of the Carmelite Order, it was decided that the Carmelites would continue to sustain their presence and service in three out of six communities. This decision aimed to maintain the Carmelite presence in the parish of Fgura, at the national shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Valletta, and in the parish of St Venera. The Order will also continue to care for St Elias College. Consideration will be given to exploring new arrangements for houses where a continued presence is no longer viable. These decision have been taken due to decreased numbers in vocations.
Regrettably, the Chapter, with a heavy heart, also acknowledged the impracticality of maintaining a Carmelite community of friars in Mdina and Balluta. Collaborating closely with Archbishop Charles Scicluna and the laity who identify with the Carmelite Order, plans for the future ministry of pastoral care in Balluta will be formulated. Moreover, efforts will be made, in collaboration with the laity, to ensure the continuity of the Carmelite priory of Mdina as a centre for Carmelite spirituality.
Recognizing the long tradition of the Carmelite Order in Malta since the fifteenth century and the generous support from local communities over the decades, the Carmelites express understanding of the disappointment that this decision may bring to many. These changes are undertaken to fortify community life, strengthen Catholic witness, and promote vocations to continue enriching the Church in Malta with the Carmelite charism.
In the course of the Provincial Chapter, the new government of the Maltese Province was also elected, set to serve until 2027: Fr Charles Mallia as prior provincial, with Fr Maurice Abela, Fr Martin Schembri, Fr Alex Scerri, and Fr Ivan Scicluna as councillors.
Causa Nostrae Laetitiae
INITIUM NOVITIATUS
19-01-24 Daniel Paraguassú (PAR) Paranavaí, Brasil
19-01-24 Lucas Mateus Pereira de Sousa (Pern) Paranavaí, Brasil
19-01-24 Adryan Carlos da Silva (Pern) Paranavaí, Brasil
19-01-24 Gabriel Cabral de Sousa (Pern) Paranavaí, Brasil
19-01-24 Frankilin Rosneyda Silva Barbosa (Pern) Paranavaí, Brasil
19-01-24 Leandro da Silva Hardaim (Flum) Paranavaí, Brasil
PROFESSIO SOLEMNIS
02-02-24 Ronam Maria Rodrigues e Silva (Pern) Olinda, Brasil
02-02-24. João Paulo Prata (Pern) Olinda, Brasil
ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS
27-01-24 Oscar A. Robles, Jr. (Phil) Agusan del Sur, Philippines
27-01-24 Marjune R. Caloring (Phil) Agusan del Sur, Philippines
27-01-24 Kim Paul M. Escobal (Phil) Agusan del Sur, Philippines
27-01-24 Rio Mar S. Sindac (Phil) Agusan del Sur, Philippines
Celebrating At Home - 1st Sunday in Lent
From Temptation to Transfiguration
(Mark 1:12-15)
Our great Lenten journey has begun! It’s a journey which begins in ash and ends in water. Fire is a profound part of our experience. We know its power to destroy, blacken and reduce to ash.
We know that evil can do the same - destroy our wholeness of spirit, blacken our lives and reduce the beauty of human life to so much dust.
We begin Lent in the ash of acknowledging our own part in harbouring, creating and doing evil - those places in our hearts where the fire of anger, bitterness, selfishness or narrowness of mind and heart has left nothing but cold ash.
The ash is a reminder that our true life is not found in mortal things which eventually turn to dust, but in eternal things. We also know that out of ash new life can bud, grow strong, bloom into fullness - that’s the Easter miracle.
As always, the Gospels of the first two Sundays in Lent provide a road map for our Lenten journey from temptation (this Sunday) to transfiguration (next Sunday).
We allow ourselves to be tempted out of the ash of selfishness and narrowness of heart and into a life of open-hearted goodness. We celebrate God’s graciousness to us by sharing what we have with those in need whether it be food, wealth, time, love, friendship or compassion. That’s what it means to ‘repent and believe the Good News’.
In these days when we are so conscious of the impact of human life on God’s creation, perhaps we could think about some permanent fasting from our excessive consumption of power, food and petrol in order to allow our earth to heal, to breathe and to continue to be a source of nourishment and life for the whole human family.
- pdf Celebrating At Home - 1st Sunday in Lent [PDF](3.19 MB)
- default Celebrating At Home - 1st Sunday in Lent [ePub](4.71 MB)
- pdf Celebrando en Familia - Primer Domingo de Cuaresma(569 KB)
- pdf Celebrando in Casa - I Domenica di Quaresima(562 KB)
- pdf Celebrando em familia - Primeiro Domingo da Quaresma(556 KB)
SEL Creates New Space for Carmelite Heritage Room
The Carmelite Heritage Room, dedicated in memory of William Murphy, at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Middletown, New York, has moved to a new space. Previously located in a room at the rear of the Edith Stein Conference Center, the Heritage Room is now welcoming visitors in the open area between the shrine and the provincial offices. The space provides visitors to browse the displays wherever the shrine itself is open. It is also able to better accommodate the growing number of visitors to the Shrine.
The new Carmelite Heritage Room was the brainchild of Fr. Mario Esposito, O. Carm, Prior Provincial of the Province of Saint Elias, and Fr. Mark Zittle, O.Carm, the Provincial Procurator. As part of a multi-faceted transition of the Shrine, Carol Bezak, the Shrine Director, coordinated the transition effort. A former Lay Carmelite office was transformed into the new Heritage room under the skillful direction and hard work of Tim Conklin, the Director of Operations and Maintenance.
The Carmelite Heritage Room will showcase material found in the Provincial Archives, where thousands of historical documents, records of Provincial events, photographs, works of art, and religious objects are cataloged and maintained. Currently various chalices used over the history of the province are displayed. There is also artwork and a display on the life of Carmelite St. Titus Brandsma who was canonized in May 2022.
Four display cases will allow visitors to get an up-close look at material that tells the story of the province that began at Our Lady of the Scapular Church of Mt. Carmel at 28th Street in New York’s Manhattan in 1889. The plan is for some of the displays, which will be themed, to change every two months.
Currently one of the cases holds ancient books from the 16th century in Spanish and Latin. Another holds some of the writings of Alfred Isacsson, O. Carm., an authority on the province’s history and the founder of the provincial archives. A third case contains Scapular magazine and other publications of the province. The final display case holds brochures from the now demolished St. Albert’s Junior Seminary and vocation materials.
Currently, the Rev. Alfred Isacsson, O. Carm. Provincial Archives is under the direction of Vincent Begley. Mr. Begley was historian for 10 years at Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, New York and was the historian for Fordham University’s 150th anniversary in 1991.
Visitors to the Carmelite Heritage Room are heartily welcome.
